Tuesday, 16 November 2010

A Conundrum

"Meantime wise voices like that of Jeremy Warner, the Telegraph’s economic commentator, rightly warns against schadenfreude (while avoiding the German word). While celebrating the fact that we never joined the euro, he points out that the EU is our largest trading partner, and that the bloc’s probable melt-down will do the British economy, and our recovery hopes, and our deficit reduction plan, no good at all. Of course he’s right.

And yet, and yet… The demise of the euro, and therefore of the EU as we know it, will of course be a huge vindication of all I have believed and worked for for the last dozen years. And there might be a longer-term silver lining. If the collapse of the EU finally forces Britain, after forty years of introspective involvement in Europe, to focus our attention on the wider world — on China, India, the USA, the Commonwealth — then we may at last have a chance to re-establish our status as a great trading nation, and share in some part of the future growth of the non-European world."

Without doubt, were the euro to actually be about to collapse - and with it, the EU - I believe it fairly obvious David Cameron will do whatever he feels necessary to ensure that 'Projet EU' is maintained. It is also unarguable that were the collapse of the euro inevitable, one question that will not be put to the British people is whether we wish him to continue with his efforts to maintain 'Projet EU', or whether we should just get the hell out. It would also be interesting to know what contingency plans the Coalition have, should the EU finally 'fold', to ensure financial trading stability for Britain.

Were that edifice of Babel to crumble, what will be most delightful will be to see the likes of Cameron, Clegg, Clarke and the rest of their Europhobe colleagues explaining to the British people why they for so long kept us enslaved within a form of government which is totally alien to us, which is undemocratic and which is now shown to be unworkable.

Now that would be a Christmas present (belated or otherwise) worth having!